TOP STORIES
Western Digital Corp. is relocating its headquarters from Lake Forest to Irvine’s Park Place office campus next year. The disk drive maker signed a lease for 365,000 square feet at Park Place offices acquired in August by Irvine-based LBA Realty. It’s the largest office lease signed here this year. The company plans to consolidate its headquarters and other sites to the site starting in late 2010 (see story, page 1).
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, an Aliso Viejo-based drug maker, is buying a skin care company to build up its Australian dermatology business. Valeant is paying $69 million for Private Formula International Holdings Pty Ltd. The deal gives Valeant skin care lines Dr. LeWinn’s and Hissyfit, and Revitanail, a line of nail strengtheners known as Renunail in the U.S. Valeant said it expects the deal to close in early October and add to its 2010 results. Separately, Valeant said it’s paying $115 million for income rights to licensed and pipeline products owned by former shareholders of Dow Pharmaceutical Sciences Inc., which it bought in January.
TECHNOLOGY
Santa Ana’s MSC.Software Corp. signed a new deal to be acquired by Symphony Technology Group LLC after the Palo Alto-based private equity firm upped its offer in a monthlong bidding war. Symphony now is offering $372 million for MSC, a maker of simulation software used to test designs of prototypes for military, aerospace and industrial uses. The offer tops a $367 million counter offer from two undisclosed private equity firms believed to be San Francisco’s Vector Capital Corp. and Golden Gate Capital.
Former Broadcom Corp. financial chief Bill Ruehle lost a legal round last week when a federal appeals court said his statements during a probe of stock options backdating at the chipmaker could be used by prosecutors in their case against him. Ruehle is set to go trial Oct. 20 in federal court in Santa Ana. In other Broadcom news, a federal judge in Los Angeles gave tentative approval to a partial settlement in a shareholder suit over options. The judge OK’d an $118 million payment, which could be one of the largest shareholder lawsuit settlements ever.
Polaris International Holdings Inc., a Huntington Beach-based technology outsourcing service, has bought the network and tech consulting business of Staff IS Co. of Japan. Polaris paid $1.7 million in a combination of cash and debt that converts to stock. The deal is expected to close by Nov. 1, Polaris said.
HEALTHCARE
Beckman Coulter Inc., a maker of diagnostic medical testing equipment and supplies, is cutting 84 local jobs. Fifty-two of the job cuts are from Brea, while the remaining jobs are in neighboring Fullerton. Beckman is in the process of moving from its longtime Fullerton headquarters to Brea. The local cuts are part of a larger restructuring that sources familiar with the company have put at more than 200 workers companywide.
Irvine-based drug maker Allergan Inc. filed a lawsuit against the federal government as part of its bid to boost usage of its flagship Botox drug. Allergan wants to be able to talk with doctors about uses for Botox not specifically outlined by the Food and Drug Administration. Allergan hopes to get the wrinkle-smoothing drug approved as a treatment for migraines and other conditions.
REAL ESTATE
Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. reworked terms of a potentially crippling credit line and is raising $5 million from its largest investor. Grubb & Ellis said it reworked terms with a unit of Deutsche Bank AG, giving the company until Nov. 30 to make a $27.3 million payment that was due last week. The new terms also give Grubb the option to pay off $67 million in two credit lines at 65 cents on the dollar.
First Industrial Realty Trust, a Chicago-based investor in industrial buildings, is closing an Irvine office. The company is cutting 46 jobs throughout.
OTHER NEWS
Forbes’ 2009 list of the 400 richest Americans included nine from OC. Donald Bren, chairman and owner of Irvine Company, is the highest ranking local on the list at No. 16 at an estimated $12 billion in wealth. Jim Jannard, founder of Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc., comes in at No. 113 at an estimated $2.8 million, down from $3 billion a year earlier. David Sun and John Tu, cofounders and owners of Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co., rank No. 123 at an estimated $2.5 billion each, down from $4 billion. Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer at Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co., ranks No. 158 at an estimated $2 billion, unchanged from a year earlier. The others are Broadcom Corp. cofounders Henry Samueli at $1.65 billion and Henry Nicholas at $1.5 billion; and real estate investors George Argyros and Igor Olenicoff at $1.5 billion each.
Irvine-based Resources Connection Inc. reported a bigger than expected loss for its recently ended quarter. The provider of accountants and other professionals on a contract basis said it lost $7.2 million in the three months through Aug. 29, reversing a profit of $12.5 million a year earlier. Analysts had been looking for a loss of $1.8 million on average. Revenue for the quarter fell 43% from a year earlier to $118.3 million, disappointing analysts who were looking for sales of $120 million. The company said international revenue was cut by half in the quarter from a year earlier, spurring the loss and lower sales.
